That's the Way Moms Do It
by Grettigirl123
Summary: Sam and Dean are worn out, sick and injured after a hunt and take refuge at Bobby's house. Only, it's not just Bobby's house anymore. Ellen has finally moved in with her beau, and has domesticated the place. This is an attempt to give the boys some much needed, yet never received mothering, and have Ellen teach them some house manners that they never learned from John
1. Chapter 1

_**I always loved the dynamic that Ellen had with the boys, especially Dean, and have seriously missed her since her untimely demise in Season 5. With this fic I'm exploring a possible scenario as to what may have happened if Bobby and Ellen had actually gotten together. I loved the AU in "Our Hearts Will Go On" but wanted to have a scene with the boys and Ellen, as an Aunt figure. Jo is mentioned briefly, but is not in this fic. This is basically just a reason for the boys to get a little bit of mothering. Ellen will be stricter in this half, but will have a few chances to be nurturing in the second half.**_

**As always, I do not own anything nor make a profit, and would really love a quick review.**

_**If all goes as planned, this will be a two-shot. **_

**That's The Way Moms Do It**

Sam and Dean were no strangers to lousy. Lousy food, lousy jobs, lousy motel dives that make you want to scrub yourself until your skin is raw…but there's lousy, and then there's just downright sucks out loud, and this last job did just that. They'd both come out of it okay, all things considered. Sam had taken a really bad blow to the side of his head on this last hunt, plus he'd been coughing so hard for the past few days that Dean was surprised Sam hadn't choked out a lung, but he was still breathing in and out and his speech wasn't slurring as a result of the knock on the head, so Dean figured he'd live to tell about it.

Not to mention the driving rain. It was just pouring out of the sky in sheets, hitting the roof and hood of the Impala so hard and loud that it was drowning out the radio. Dean could barely see the road ahead of him, and any road not on a major highway was pretty much underwater by now, so it had been very slow going for the last hour and a half.

Dean looked over at Sam in the passenger seat next to him. He looked miserable, but at least his eyes were closed and he seemed to be resting. They were both sopping wet, in fact, their jackets and clothing couldn't have been more soaked if they had been submerged in a lake. The only good part about that was the fact that the water had washed some of the sewer sludge off from them. Dean understood that shapeshifters preferred underground passageways, but active sewer lines? Seriously? Dean had tried to keep the heat blasting as much as possible to warm them up, but after just a few minutes the windows would completely fog up from all the moisture in the car, plus it just multiplied the sewer smell to an unbearable level, so he had to turn it off. Dean tried not to think of how cold and gross he was and just concentrate on getting them back to Bobby's house, which was just another twenty miles or so away.

Sam awoke a moment later and stole a glance in his brother's direction as Dean's attention was fully taken with keeping the car on the road. Dean's right hand had been sliced open pretty badly and he had twisted his knee during this hunt. Poor Dean looked just miserable, but at least they weren't too far from Bobby's, and there they would be able to get some R & R for a day or so.

Dean noticed that Sam had awoken.

"Should only be another half hour or so before we get to Bobby's. Would've been there an hour ago if it weren't for this friggin' rain."

Sam nodded as his gaze returned out the side window. "So, do you think it'll be different at Bobby's now that Ellen's moved in?"

Dean frowned. "Whaddya mean, 'different'?"

Sam shrugged, "I dunno. Do you think Bobby's been all like…domesticated now? I mean, now that he and Ellen have finally taken the plunge and moved in together? People say that once a couple moves in together it changes things."

Dean smiled. "Nah, I don't think anything will ever change Bobby. His ways are all set in stone. Aside from her being there to cook us a nice hot meal, I don't think we'll see any real changes."

Sam smiled and shook his head. "You never know, it could happen."

"Now see, that's where you're wrong. If there's one thing I do know, it's Bobby. He's still a confirmed bachelor, just with a live-in girlfriend, or in this case, woman-friend." Dean gave a smug smirk at his prediction. "But," he added, "I'm happy for them, I really am. They've been dancing around the subject of getting together for years now, and it's about time they took it to the next level."

Sam raised his eyebrows and nodded. "I agree with you there. I don't know what took them so long to hook up in the first place, but they are good for each other." Sam's expression turned more serious. "I'm just glad neither of them is alone anymore. I hope someday I can be that lucky."

Dean snorted at the thought of settling down. "Yeah, maybe when we're Bobby and Ellen's age, but right now any women in our lives would just be in the way. I mean, can you imagine trying to do what we do and have to keep running back to one spot over and over to make some chick happy? It would be that or trying to take them along with us and that'd just be a disaster." Dean shook his head at the idea. "No way would any of that work. It'd just be too much to deal with."

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's logic, but remained quiet. Deep down Sam wished that there were a girl out there somewhere who missed him and couldn't wait to see him come home. He was about to say something to that effect, but was suddenly overcome with a bad choking jag that made him forget anything he would have said. The choking only accentuated the throbbing in his head, and by the time the cough let up, he could only lay his head back against the head rest and groan as he wallowed in his misery.

Dean sighed. "I see you're doing better." He chided sarcastically. "Just hang tight, we're almost there."

Sam nodded as he looked at Dean's bandaged hand. "How are you holding up?" He asked through his scorched throat.

Dean followed Sam's gaze to his hand and held it up. "What? This?" he asked, "It's okay. Starting to stiffen up and throb a little, but I'll live."

"And what about your knee?"

"That's okay too. I just need to sit with it up for a while with an ice pack to take the swelling down. After that it'll be fine, just won't be able to go dancing right away." Dean shrugged. "What I need even more than that is a nice hot shower. I can't stand the smell of us anymore, and these wet clothes are starting to chafe in some very uncomfortable areas."

Sam chuckled a bit. "I hear ya there. Hot soapy water and some clean dry clothes sure sound good to me. After that I'll probably sleep for a week."

"Remember, sleep comes after we have some of that awesome pot roast that Ellen's making for supper tonight." A dreamy look washed over Dean's face. "I'm gonna start drooling just thinking about it."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "I could sure go for a nice home cooked meal. At this point I'd go for anything hot that tastes halfway decent."

Dean laughed, "You always were an easy one, kinky bastard."

Sam gave a pained smile at his brother's joke. "That's not what I meant. Get your mind out of the sewer."

Dean shuddered. "Dude," he warned, "Don't mention that word to me again! I've had enough sewer exploring to last way more than my lifetime!"

As Dean had promised, another half hour of driving and they pulled in to Singer Salvage's parking lot, passing old cars in different levels of dismemberment as they went. The dirt driveway was full of pot holes…well, they'd started as pot holes but with the driving rain they had quickly become ditches and ravines. Dean pulled up as close to the house as possible, but still was unsuccessful at escaping the rain and mud that awaited them. Dean winced as his foot sank so deep into the soft saturated muck that it seeped over the top of his boot, not that it mattered anyway, as his feet had been soaking in his socks since he left Missouri.

They quickly grabbed their duffels from the Impala's trunk and rushed through the door of Bobby's house to escape the onslaught of sideways rain and gusting wind. Bobby held the door opened for them as they ran inside.

"It's about time you two got here." He greeted them. "You both had me worried sick."

Dean shook the raindrops from his hair and ran his wet hand down his face. "Sorry, Bobby." He offered. "This rainstorm's followed us all the way up from Lansing. I could barely drive over forty the whole way here." He stopped for a moment and inhaled the scent of dinner in through his nose. "Oh my God….what's that amazing smell?"

"No offense, boys, but it's definitely not either of you." Ellen replied as she entered the kitchen. "What the Hell is making you stink so badly?"

Sam grimaced. "We're sorry. We had to chase a shifter through a sewer. We stood out in the rain as much as possible to try to wash away most of the sludge, but the smell had already set in our clothes."

Dean nodded. "Here's hoping it doesn't cling to my car's interior. I'll have to have Baby fumigated if that's the case."

Sam kicked off his boots and attempted to take a few steps deeper into the kitchen, but Ellen pushed him back onto the doormat. "Hold it," She ordered. "You both stay right there and don't take a foot off that rug."

Ellen reached into a cupboard and pulled out a large plastic bag. She shook it open and held it out in front of her. "Here. I want you both to take your clothes off and put them into this bag. I'll throw a load into the washer while you take your showers before dinner."

Dean and Sam threw each other confused looks. "Our clothes?" Sam asked.

Ellen nodded impatiently. "Yeah, your clothes. You're not tracking that smell all through the house after I spent all week mopping the floors and scrubbing the carpet."

Sam continued to stare at Ellen. "But…." He countered.

"Oh for God's sake." She spouted. "Wait right here." She left the kitchen for just a moment, returning with two bath towels. "Strip down and wrap yourselves in these towels." She handed the boys each a towel and again held out the bag in front of her. "C'mon, boys," She prodded. "My roast is almost done and I gotta throw these clothes in and set the table. Let's get a move on."

Sam gave Dean a panicked look. He raised his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for Dean to somehow get them out of this.

"Look, Ellen," Dean started.

"Dean Winchester, don't you dare start with me the minute you walk in here. If either of you have something I haven't seen before then it's one for the record books."

As a last ditch effort, Dean looked to Bobby with the same expression Sam had just given him.

"Bobby, a little help here?"

Bobby cleared his throat as he uncomfortably backed his way out of the kitchen. "I've gotta check on something in the library. Give me a shout when dinner's ready." He then shrugged his shoulders at Sam and Dean as some sort of apology and disappeared through the doorway.

Dean sighed heavily as he removed his jacket and shirts and placed them in the bag. Sam reluctantly followed suit, placing his sopping wet and disgustingly filthy clothing in the bag as well. When they were both down to their boxers, they stopped.

"Um, Ellen?" Sam asked softly, "Do you think we could have a little privacy for this part? Could you turn around just for a second?"

Ellen smiled in consent. "Sure," She answered. "I can do that." She set the now heavy bag down in front of them and turned around. "Just let me know when you're ready."

She could hear the boys clumsily stepping out of their undergarments and heard the rustle of the plastic bag as they shed as quickly as possible. A moment later Dean announced that they were all set. She turned again and saw both of them standing before her with towels wrapped tightly around their waists, still looking quite uncomfortable. She casually picked up the bag before her, pretending not to notice how awkward they had both become.

"There, was that so bad?" She teased. "Now, go take your showers and change into some clean clothes. Dinner will be ready in a half hour, so no dilly dallying."

Sam tried to smile through his embarrassment. "Yes, Ma'am." He mumbled.

A light went off in Dean's head as he realized something of high importance. He quickly held onto his towel with one hand, grabbed his duffel in the other and hobbled toward the doorway. "I call first shower!" He yelled.

Sam's head snapped up. "What? No!...Dean!" he shouted as he tried in vain to grab his bag and catch up to Dean, but it was too late. Dean was already far ahead of him. Dean had already entered the bathroom by the time Sam arrived at the door. When Dean slammed the door in front of Sam, Sam pounded the door with the side of his fist. Dean laughed at the thought of Sam having to wait in the hallway in only a towel. He opened the door just enough to peek out.

"You snooze, you lose, brother!" he taunted. "Even on a gimp leg, I can still outrun you!"

"Very funny." Sam sulked. "Just make it quick, okay?" as a last resort Sam tried to play on Dean's sympathies. "I'm freezing out here, and you know I already don't feel very good."

"Nice try, Princess." Dean chuckled. "If you're that cold, there's an afghan over the back of the couch."

"Aren't you sweet?" Sam pouted. Dean was just about to close the door and begin his shower, when Sam made one last observation. "Well, you were right about one thing."

Dean stopped for a moment. "What's that?"

Sam tipped his chin in the direction of the kitchen. "Aside from her being here to cook us a nice hot meal, we haven't seen any real changes." He quipped sarcastically, quoting Dean from their ride to Bobby's. "Except, I don't remember having to strip at the door before Ellen moved in."

Dean nodded at Sam's observation. "Yeah, I don't remember that either and what's up with Bobby just bailing on us like that?" He smirked at Sam. "Things might be more….what was your word?...domesticated…..than we thought." Dean sighed. "You, young man, had better be on your best behavior!"

"Look who's talking." Sam scoffed, but had a more serious expression on his face as he looked toward the kitchen. "But either way, it's gonna be an interesting visit."

_**Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it and hope to have the second half up very soon. **_


	2. Chapter 2

Just as Dean was about to doze off on the couch, Sam emerged from the bathroom, steam billowing out the door from the heat of the water. He looked a lot less miserable than he did in the car, and a Hell of a lot cleaner. He had changed into clean jeans and a sweatshirt. His hair was still damp but it was combed back and away from his face, which was now clean shaven.

Dean had opted for some more comfortable clothing, consisting of sweat pants and a dark blue tee shirt, and had also shaved. He had even applied a clean bandage to his cut hand, but had done a sloppy job at it, only having one good hand to work with. He had his bad knee propped up on some pillows while he lay back on the couch and waited for Sam to be done with his shower. He passed the time by listening to the sound of his stomach growling for some of the pot roast. The smell of the cooking meat was driving Dean crazy. He couldn't wait to dig in and devour it. He had closed his eyes and fantasized about digging in to his meal when he'd heard Sam open the bathroom door.

Ellen entered the room just as Dean stood from the couch. She looked back and forth at Sam and Dean and smiled.

"Well now, there are the boys I recognize!" She beamed as she walked over and gave each of them a gentle hug. "I hope you're hungry. I've got enough food out there to feed an army!"

Dean smiled from ear to ear and eagerly rubbed his hands together. "Lead the way!" He proclaimed.

Sam nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds fantastic." He agreed.

Bobby was in the kitchen setting the table. Ellen noticed what he was doing and sighed.

"Oh, Hon, don't use those old chipped plates for dinner." She gently berated, "Use the nice ones from the top shelf." She then smiled and nodded in Sam and Dean's direction. "It's a special dinner, and we have guests."

Bobby's face scrunched up as he looked up from his task. "They aren't guests!" He argued gruffly, "They're two idjits who don't know enough to come in from the rain."

Ellen's smile turned cold as she folded her arms across her chest and stared at Bobby. As she held the stare for a few moments, Bobby's expression changed from annoyed to sheepish. Finally, Bobby gave a defeated sigh and picked the plates back up from the table. "I'll just get these out of the way and dig out the nicer ones." He stated. "I wouldn't want to offend our '_guests'._"

Just as quickly as Ellen's smile had disappeared a moment earlier, it returned. "Thank you, Babe." She answered, then to Sam and Dean, "Okay, boys, just take a seat and relax. I'll get you each a cold beer."

Dean threw Sam a quick look with his eyebrows raised in question. Sam shrugged and shook his head, but quickly followed Ellen's request and sat down at the table.

"Thank you." They offered, in unison.

Within minutes, the four of them were sitting down at a table full of delicious food. There were carrots, green beans, roasted onions, potatoes, and of course, an enormous pot roast so tender that it could almost be cut with a fork.

Dean picked up his knife and attempted to cut into his roast. However, his hand was hurting quite a bit from the bad cut and he was having a difficult time holding his knife. Ellen noticed right away and asked Dean if everything was alright.

Dean looked up. "Yeah, I just sliced the back of my hand open and it's bothering me a little…..but I'm fine, no worries."

Despite Dean's answer, Ellen rose from her seat and went to Dean's side. "Let me get that for you, Dean. Give me your knife."

Dean looked a little embarrassed. "No, really Ellen, it's okay. I got it."

Without another word, Ellen took the knife from Dean and began to cut up his roast. Sam watched Dean's uncomfortable expression and chuckled a little. Ellen stopped cutting and threw Sam a look of warning.

"Something funny, Sam?"

Sam immediately stopped smiling as his eyes widened in fear. He sat deeper in his chair, looked down and shook his head as he went back to eating his dinner.

Ellen rolled her eyes at him. "I didn't think so." She answered as she turned her attention back to Dean.

Dean had no choice but to sit there as Ellen leaned over him and helped him with his pot roast. He was about to make one last attempt at a protest, when he caught a slight whiff of her perfume. The moment the scent registered in his brain, it was as if he had been sent back in time. In an instant, he was swept away as images of his early childhood flooded his vision. He could see his Mom standing over him, cutting the crusts off his sandwich at lunchtime, he could hear her voice as she told him that he had to eat all of his meal before he could go outside and play on the swing set. But most of all, he could smell the scent of her, of her cologne, of her clothing, of her hair, and it was this that offered him a feeling of warmth and comfort that he'd forgotten he had ever felt before. The feeling was incredible, and he just wanted to wrap himself up in it, but just as quickly as the images had flowed through him, they disappeared.

"Here you go." Ellen announced as she set the knife down next to his plate. "Now you can dig in."

She returned to her seat next to him and picked up her fork. A moment later she noticed that Dean hadn't moved and seemed to be in some sort of trance.

"Dean?" She asked, "Are you okay?"

Bobby and Sam stopped eating for a moment as their attention was now on Dean as well. Dean snapped out of the memory and stared blankly from one face at the table to the next. He blew out a short breath and picked up his fork.

"Yeah, I'm great. Thanks Ellen." He smiled as he took a big bite of the meat. He chewed it as he tried to recover from the impromptu flashback that had left the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and remnant memories whispering in his brain. He blinked hard a few times to try to erase them and stay focused.

Bobby and Ellen dismissed Dean's dazed look and continued with their meal, however, Sam continued to watch him a while longer. Something was definitely off about him, almost as if something had spooked him. He tried to get Dean to make eye contact with him, but Dean wasn't looking, so he made a mental note that he would ask him about it later.

As the meal continued, Ellen tried to make some small talk about the boys' last hunt or what they had been up to in the past few months since she'd seen them. However, each time she'd ask a question or comment, she would have to either wait for them to finish chewing and swallowing huge mouthfuls of food, or, even worse, have them answer with their mouths full. They were shoveling in the food as quickly as they could get it on their forks. After a moment of watching this, Ellen couldn't help but respond.

"Boys" she started, trying to keep her voice from showing how annoyed she was becoming. "This isn't 'Wild Kingdom', and no one is going to take your food away from you, so just slow down, chew, and breathe while you eat it. You two are eating like savages."

Bobby noticed the shamed looks that Sam and Dean had on their faces and tried to help them out. "C'mon, Hon," he offered, "They're starving, probably haven't had a chance to sit down and eat for a few days. Why dontcha just leave 'em be and let 'em eat?"

Ellen shook her head and explained herself a little bit more. "Look, I'm not trying to make them feel bad." She then turned to them, "Really, I'm not. I just want you both to relax and enjoy your dinner. I spent four hours preparing and cooking this meal, I'd like to see you at least give your mouths a chance to actually taste the food before you choke it down. Okay?"

Dean nodded and Sam smiled shyly as they both agreed to slow it down. Upon hearing this, Ellen's smile returned once again. She looked over at Bobby.

"See?" she stated, "No harm done. I'm not angry, and they know I love 'em, I just don't want to risk having to do the Heimlich maneuver on either of them before dinner is over because they tried to swallow a whole potato." She smiled as Sam chuckled at her joke. "Besides, it's not their fault. I'm sure John wasn't too big on pushing the matter of table manners on them."

Dean couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, you got that right." He agreed. "Dad's biggest dinner rule was that we couldn't clean our weapons at the table."

"And that was only when we had a table." Sam added. "Nine out of ten times we ate our dinner in the back seat of the Impala out of a takeout bag."

Bobby snorted a little at the comments, but conceded, "Well, he did the best he could with you boys under the circumstances. Sometimes I don't know how he kept it all together, but somehow he managed." He paused for a second as if deep in thought. "And if as a result of that you two don't have good table manners, well, that's something I'm willing to forgive."

"But Ellen, you're right." Sam intervened. "You did work hard today on this dinner, and everything turned out delicious. Right, Dean?"

"Yup." Dean answered as he took his last bite of food. "It was awesome, thank you, Ellen."

"Yes, Thank you." Sam finished.

Ellen's smile beamed from ear to ear as a small tear filled her eye. "No, boys, thank you. I'm so glad you liked it, you have no idea how happy you've made me." She suddenly excused herself from the kitchen as she dabbed her eyes with a napkin.

Not having a clue as to what just took place, Sam and Dean looked to Bobby for some answers to Ellen's reaction to their compliments. Bobby shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and adjusted his cap.

"I've figured out that women tend to get emotional when someone gushes over them." He explained. "On top of that, she's been missing Jo since she left to spend a few months with some high school classmates up in Michigan. I think having you boys here just tugged a little on her motherly apron strings." He smiled at the confused expressions on their faces. "Don't worry, she'll be alright. She just gets like that sometimes."

Dean sighed. "Wow, it's like an estrogen roller coaster ride."

Bobby laughed. "You said it, kid."

**TBC**

_**Okay, so my two-shot has now become a three-shot, but only because I didn't figure in soccer season wrapping up this week and keeping me extremely busy. I haven't had time to really sit and finish anything, so I decided to just post two shorter chapters instead of a longer one. **_

_**As always, I hope you enjoyed it, and please take just a moment to leave a quick review. Thank you. **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Here is the third and final chapter. I've got to admit, I enjoyed this little story, even with very little plot and more hurt/comfort than I usually write. I'm so hoping that they find a way to bring Ellen back for some of Season 8. Writing this made me realize how much I miss her. **_

_**I hope you enjoy it, and as always thank you so much for taking the time to read it. Please take just a moment and leave a quick review.**_

Despite how wonderful Ellen's pot roast had been and how much Dean had eaten at dinner, a few hours later he was rummaging through the refrigerator and putting together a sandwich and milk for a snack. Sam staggered into the kitchen a few minutes later, groaning in misery and holding his head. He stood next to the fridge and watched in disbelief as Dean finished making his sandwich.

"Dude, how can you even think about eating? I'm still stuffed from dinner."

Dean took a bite of his sandwich and shrugged his shoulders. "Dinner was, like, two and a half hours ago." He explained as he chewed. He then looked Sam up and down. "You should take some aspirin for your head. It's gotta be killing you, and I heard you coughing non-stop in the other room a few minutes ago, I'm sure that's not making your head feel any better."

"That's true." Sam answered. "My head wasn't too bad until I started coughing again. Now it's throbbing like a bitch and what's even worse is my throat is killing me."

Dean shook his head and gave a sad smile. "Man, you are just sucking tonight."

Sam winced at Dean as he turned and opened the fridge door. "Maybe there's something cold in here for my throat."

"Maybe. Hey, before we head to bed I'll need you to rewrap my hand for me. I did it myself before dinner but couldn't really do it good with just one hand."

Sam nodded in reply as he continued his search through the refrigerator. Dean brought his sandwich and milk to the kitchen table and sat down. "At least my knee is feeling a little better." He stated as he tipped his head back and took a huge gulp of milk from the container.

Much to Dean's surprise, he felt a slap on the back of his head. He finished his swallow quickly and whirled around to see Ellen standing behind him holding a glass. She raised her eyebrows up at him as she placed the glass down on the table.

"Do you have to be told?" She admonished.

Dean gave her a guilty looking smirk as he took the glass and poured some milk into it. Ellen then took the milk container and placed the cap on top. "Thank you, sweetie." She smiled as she picked up a few left over utensils, including a spatula, from the dinner table and carried them to the sink. As she passed Sam, still bent over searching the fridge, she swung the spatula and brought it down across Sam's backside.

Sam jerked upward. "Yeow!" he yelped in surprise. He frowned at Ellen. "What was _that_ for?"

Ellen continued past him as she brought the utensils to the sink. She casually replied over her shoulder. "You're letting all the cold air out of my fridge. Just pick something already and shut the door."

Sam threw Dean an exasperated look as Dean chuckled at him. "Hey," Dean laughed, "It could've been worse, at least you didn't get smacked in the head."

Sam quickly decided on a pudding cup as Ellen once again walked past him and took the milk from the table. "Oh, I wouldn't hit Sam in the head when he's got such a bad headache. I'm not evil. But," She added, "last I checked there wasn't anything wrong with his ass." She smiled as she put the milk away and then took the pudding cup away from Sam. "And you shouldn't have any milk products when your chest is congested, Hon." She returned the pudding to the fridge and brought out another item. "Here, have a Jell-O cup instead, it's better for you." She ran her hand over the back of his head in a comforting gesture. Sam couldn't help but smile at her, in spite of her having just swatted him as if he were a little kid.

Just then Bobby entered the kitchen. He held a cardboard box under his arm. "I'm gonna take a couple trips out and get some wood for the fire tonight." He announced. "I'll only be a few minutes."

Dean rose from the table. "I'll give you a hand." He offered as he grabbed his jacket.

"That's okay, Dean, I've got it. It's just stacked on the other side of the porch." Bobby countered.

"No, really. If two of us go, we can get all we need for the night in one trip. It's no big deal."

Bobby shrugged. "Suit yourself."

While Dean and Bobby were collecting the firewood, Ellen sat with Sam at the table while he ate his Jell-O cup.

Sam started some small talk. "So, Bobby says that Jo's visiting some friends from school?"

Ellen's eyes held a saddened expression. "Yeah. She's been gone for about two weeks now and isn't due home again until the end of next month. I know she's all grown up now, but I still miss her and worry like Hell when she's off somewhere on her own." She gave a small smile to Sam. "It's a mother thing. A Mom will worry about her kids for all her life."

Sam shrugged and smiled slightly. "I guess so." He answered. "I'll have to take your word for it. I never had one, and I'll never be one." He tried to joke.

Ellen realized that she was hitting a potentially delicate subject and patted Sam's knee. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry." She then changed the subject a little bit. "Listen, I asked Jo to clean out her room before she left, but she's still got a lot of junk in it, so I've fixed up the two couches in the study for you and Dean to sleep on tonight. I hope that's okay."

Sam yawned and stretched as the thought of falling asleep tantalized him. "Yeah, that sounds great. Anywhere as long as it's not a musty motel room or the back of the Impala sounds really good right now."

Their conversation was interrupted when Bobby came crashing through the door, half carrying Dean by supporting Dean's weight across his shoulders.

Ellen and Sam stood from their seats at the table. "What the Hell happened?" Ellen cried.

Dean held his leg off the ground as he hobbled toward a chair, using Bobby as a crutch. "It's my damned knee!"

Bobby explained further. "He slipped on the wet porch and landed hard on his knee. I think I heard it pop."

Sam felt his stomach knot up. "Oh crap, Dean, you were just saying it was feeling better!"

"Yeah, I know. I should've known better than to say something like that. I jinxed it!"

Ellen took a small towel from the drawer and filled it with ice from the freezer. "Okay, let's just get you settled and we'll take a look at it."

Dean took a seat and pulled his sweatpants up past his knee. It looked red and swollen, but after Bobby put it through some uncomfortable bends and stretches it was discovered that nothing appeared to be broken. Bobby and Sam helped Dean to his designated bed in the study and propped his leg up with some pillows. Ellen placed the ice-filled towel on his knee.

"Well, looks like you're in bed for the evening." She sighed. "It's after nine o'clock anyways, and you two both look pretty wiped out. Why don't we just call it an early night?"

Sam then began a coughing fit that had him doubled over, holding his chest with one hand and trying to cover his mouth with the other.

Bobby looked over at Sam after his cough had finally quieted down. "I'd say Sam agrees to that." He stated. Sam looked up at Bobby and nodded weakly.

"Definitely." He concurred.

Bobby again grabbed his cardboard box and headed for the door. "Okay, let's try this one more time. I'm gonna go get some wood to keep the fire going through the night. I'll be right back."

"Be careful!" Ellen shouted behind him. "We don't need everyone out of commission tonight."

"Yeah, yeah." Bobby huffed as he closed the door behind him.

Ellen watched Bobby leave and then turned her attention to Sam and Dean.

"Okay," she announced as she clapped her hands together. "Let's get you two settled in…..but first things first. Dean, you need your hand wrapped up again." She turned on her heels and headed out of the study.

"I can get Dean's hand wrapped up, Ellen…." Sam started.

Ellen didn't turn around as she continued through the doorway. She raised her hand with her finger pointed upward. "Sam…..lay down!" She commanded.

Sam blew out a breath as he sat on his couch and leaned back against the pillows Ellen had placed on it. "Boy," he said to Dean. "She sure can be forceful when she wants to be."

"Forceful?" Dean repeated. "She can be a friggin pushy bitch when she wants to be." He chuckled a little bit. "But her heart's in the right place."

A moment later, Ellen was seated on an ottoman in front of Dean with plenty of antibiotic cream, gauze and medical tape. She gingerly worked on redressing Dean's cut hand. As Dean lay on the couch watching her, he again caught the scent of her perfume. Once again he was sent back in time to when he was a very young child. Thoughts of his mother flowed through his head as Ellen cared for him. Maybe it was the perfume; maybe his mom had worn the same kind. He wasn't sure if it was the perfume or simply the fact that he was being coddled by a mother figure that sent him to memory lane, and at the moment he really didn't care which it was. He just closed his eyes and let the warm memories silently flood over him.

Ellen finished up with Dean's hand, completely oblivious to the affect her presence was having on him, and then stood and turned her attention to Sam. "Alrighty, let's see how you're doing." She said as she walked over to Sam's couch.

"I'm fine." Sam began, "I just need a good night's rest."

Ellen sat on the edge of the couch. "I ain't arguing with that." She agreed, "But just humor me for a minute, okay? Here, lean forward a bit more." She piled a few more pillows behind Sam's head. "You need to sit up a little bit when you sleep tonight. If you sleep lying flat, your chest will close up on you again." Sam leaned back against the pillows Ellen had propped up for him. She then placed both her hands on either side of his throat and pressed around with her fingertips. "Your glands are pretty swollen. Your throat must be hurting." Sam nodded slightly as Ellen continued. "Poor thing. You boys really did a number on yourselves this time, didn't ya?" She then removed her hands from Sam's neck, placing them on either side of his face. She leaned forward and placed her lips to his forehead, holding them there for about five full seconds. Sam held still but seemed slightly uncomfortable. After what Sam thought was an eternity she pulled away from him and brushed her hand through his hair.

"I'm gonna go get you some Nyquil and some aspirin for both of you." She decided as she got up from the couch. "I'll be back in a minute."

After she left, Sam looked over to Dean in confusion. Dean smiled as he realized that Sam had no idea what Ellen had been doing.

"That's the way moms do it." Dean explained.

Sam propped himself up on his elbows. "Do what?" he asked.

"That's how they feel your head to see if you're running a fever."

Sam squinted at Dean. "With their lips?" He asked, seeming bewildered. "That's weird. How did you know that?"

Dean's eyes got a faraway look. "I know because Mom used to do that to me."

An amazed look crossed Sam's face, replacing the look of confusion just a moment earlier. "How can you remember that far back?" He asked.

Dean shook his head. "I remember being sick when I was little, it couldn't have been very long before she died. I was pretty sick with the flu and she let me spend the day in her bed watching cartoons. I remember there was a big soft green blanket on the bed and she kept coming in to check on me, and when she did she would kiss my forehead to see if I was hot." Dean's voice became a little thick as he seemed on the verge of tears. He cleared his throat and shook his head to snap himself out of the thought. "It's weird. I've been having these strange flashbacks to when I was a kid all day."

Sam's eyes widened. "Is that what happened to you at dinner? You seemed pretty weirded out."

"Yeah," Dean answered. "Like I said, it's been happening all day."

"What's causing it?" Sam questioned. "Is it Ellen? It's got to be Ellen, right?"

Dean shrugged. "That would be my guess. But, we've been around Ellen a hundred times and it never happened before."

Sam shrugged back. "I dunno. She seemed a little different today, and like Bobby said, she's missing Jo, so maybe you got picked up on the 'mother radar' or something."

"I dunno. Maybe."

Ellen returned to the study, carrying a bottle of aspirin, two water bottles, a small plastic cup with red liquid in it, and something in a teaspoon. She handed Dean the aspirin and a water bottle, then brought the plastic cup to Sam. "Bottom's up." She said. "Make sure you drink it all."

Sam grimaced at the cup, but took it and shot it back, swallowing it in one big gulp. However, as the liquid went down, Sam's reaction was so strong to the horrid taste of it that his whole head shook involuntarily.

"What the Hell was that?" he gasped as he tried to recover. "That wasn't Nyquil."

Ellen smiled "Yes it was….at least….it had some Nyquil in it. That was a half shot of Nyquil, a half shot of whiskey, and two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar." Seeing the looks on both Sam and Dean's faces, she explained further, "The whiskey will help you sleep, plus helps the Nyquil break up the congestion and the vinegar helps with the cough and also with the congestion. It's my own personal recipe, and I guarantee it'll make you feel better in the morning."

"That's if I can ever get this gross taste out of my mouth." Sam whined.

"Oh you big baby. Fine, here." She brought the teaspoon closer to Sam's face. "Take a mouthful of this. It's a half a teaspoon of honey. It'll taste good and help coat your throat."

Sam begrudgingly opened his mouth and allowed Ellen to feed him the honey. He seemed content after that and lay back down.

"Better?" Ellen quipped.

Sam nodded. "Better." He answered.

"Well good. I'll sleep better knowing you're not laying here all mad at me." Ellen huffed. She then turned to Dean. "Dean, sweetie, make sure your brother gets the aspirin bottle when you're through with it."

Dean took three pills from the bottle and tossed it to Sam. Sam plucked three out of the bottle as well and washed them down with some water.

Ellen smiled at them both as she looked them over. "Well," she proclaimed. "Looks like my work here is done. Just give me a holler if you boys need anything."

Sam looked up. "Ellen," he remarked. "I like your perfume. It's nice."

Dean raised his eyebrows. There was no way Sam could possibly remember that scent from Mom. He was only a baby when she died.

Ellen smiled. "Thanks, Sam. It's Burberry's. I've worn it for years. It's nothing fancy, but I like it." She laughed a little bit. "Jo teases me about it. Says I should wear something less 'motherly'. Who knows, maybe someday I'll splurge and get something more fancy."

"No," Dean added. "Don't change it. I like it too."

"Well okay, that settles it then, I'll stick with the Burberry." Ellen went to Dean's bedside and gave him a light kiss goodnight on the cheek. She then did the same for Sam and walked to the doorway. "Goodnight, boys." She said. "Sweet dreams and get some rest."

A half hour later, Ellen peeked in to check on them. Bobby had fixed a nightcap for him and for Ellen and brought her glass to her as she watched the boys sleep.

Bobby noticed the way Ellen was looking at them. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered. "It's just funny, you know. I know they're grown men, and I know they're more than capable of taking care of themselves, but it felt good to help them out tonight."

Bobby gave a knowing smile. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Ellen continued, "I mean, look at them? Do they look all grown up to you?"

Bobby looked at Dean, turned over onto his side, hugging his pillow….. then looked at Sam with his mountain of pillows, head thrown back with his hair covering his eyes. "Yeah," he answered,

…"About as grown up as ten year olds can look."

The End.


End file.
